---
title: "Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teacher, Postsecondary"
description: "Teach courses pertaining to the culture and development of an area, an ethnic group, or any other group, such as Latin American studies, women's studies…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/area-ethnic-and-cultural-studies-teacher-postsecondary"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teacher, Postsecondary

**Category:** Educational Instruction and Library · **SOC code:** 25-1062 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 25-1062.00

Teach courses pertaining to the culture and development of an area, an ethnic group, or any other group, such as Latin American studies, women's studies, or urban affairs. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Also advertised as: Adjunct Professor; American Studies Professor; Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Black Studies Professor; Ethnic Studies Professor; Humanities Professor; Lecturer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $85,020 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** Not published by BLS
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $52,070 to $160,420, with the middle half between $65,660 and $110,710
- **Total US employment:** 11,300
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 31/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 11,300 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $52,070 |
| 25th | $65,660 |
| 50th (median) | $85,020 |
| 75th | $110,710 |
| 90th | $160,420 |
| Mean (average) | $98,330 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NH | $125,450 | $120,434 | 80 |
| KS | $107,120 | $118,932 | 90 |
| CA | $105,220 | $95,033 | 770 |
| RI | $104,460 | $102,131 | Not published by BLS |
| ME | $103,060 | $106,193 | 50 |
| NY | $101,800 | $94,328 | 1,520 |
| DC | $101,700 | $92,538 | 230 |
| MA | $100,470 | $95,001 | 610 |
| CT | $99,900 | $96,419 | 310 |
| NJ | $97,500 | $89,610 | 480 |
| PA | $96,010 | $98,399 | 260 |
| MD | $91,330 | $87,015 | 520 |
| IL | $90,030 | $90,068 | 220 |
| MI | $87,840 | $91,294 | 460 |
| VA | $85,960 | $85,021 | 300 |

23 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 38 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/area-ethnic-and-cultural-studies-teacher-postsecondary/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/area-ethnic-and-cultural-studies-teacher-postsecondary.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 14,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 14,700 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +2.7%. About as fast as average: 2.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Doctoral Degree | 60.5% |
| Master's Degree | 31.0% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 4.0% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 3.2% |
| First Professional Degree | 1.1% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 0.2% |

## What the work involves

- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as race and ethnic relations, gender studies, and cross-cultural perspectives.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Instructing — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Education and Training — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sociology and Anthropology — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- History and Archeology — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Foreign Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Communications and Media — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Investigative (I), Artistic (A).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.92 |
| I — Investigative | 5.31 |
| A — Artistic | 3.84 |
| R — Realistic | 3.05 |
| C — Conventional | 3.03 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFP | 70.0 |
| INFJ | 68.3 |
| INFP | 68.1 |
| ENFJ | 67.6 |
| ESFP | 60.6 |

Best-fitting types: ENFP, INFJ, INFP, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [History Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/history-teacher-postsecondary) — median $83,820
- [Anthropology and Archeology Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/anthropology-and-archeology-teacher-postsecondary) — median $99,650
- [Sociology Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sociology-teacher-postsecondary) — median $84,290
- [English Language and Literature Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/english-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary) — median $78,760
- [Philosophy and Religion Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/philosophy-and-religion-teacher-postsecondary) — median $80,260
- [Political Science Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/political-science-teacher-postsecondary) — median $98,070
- [Foreign Language and Literature Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/foreign-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary) — median $79,350
- [Education Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/education-teacher-postsecondary) — median $75,350
- [Geography Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geography-teacher-postsecondary) — median $97,590
- [Communications Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/communications-teacher-postsecondary) — median $78,580

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/area-ethnic-and-cultural-studies-teacher-postsecondary